If you can make it here, you’ll make it anywhere. But if can’t make it in New York City, you still have a good chance elsewhere.

Just ask Chris Whittle.

His Edison Schools – the biggest name in for-profit education – was handed a big defeat in the Big Apple earlier this year. Now Edison’s got its eye on Philadelphia, and things are looking much better.

Pennsylvania Gov. Mark Schweiker, who took over when Tom Ridge moved to the Office of Homeland Security, has been disappointed in the Philadelphia school system and is set to pay Edison Schools $101 million over six years to find ways to fix the big problems. Edison intends to take over the schools from the bureaucrats, fire many teachers and adminstrators and replace them with new employees.

The Mayor of Philadelphia, John Street, is against the plan, but he is running out of options. If he and the governor cannot agree on a plan by the end of the month, Edison gets its lucrative deal.

Edison Schools is a publicly-traded operator of schools. It operates many for-profit schools in New York – though not in Manhattan, where it had hoped to establish a base – and in other states including Nevada and California.

All in all, the company manages 135 schools in 45 cities. More than 75,000 students in the United States attend Edison Schools. While the company is often criticized for sacrificing students’ needs in favor of profits, the truth is the company has not yet turned a profit since it went public in 1999.

The company still believes profitability is in its future. But for now, it is focusing on improving the schools it runs.

Edison typically puts at least one computer – and often many computers – in every classroom, to ensure pupils are learning the skills they will need in the real world.

Students in Edison-run schools also score much higher on standardized tests than they did before the Edison takeover.

Even while students’ scores are higher, Edison’s stock has been lower. So far this year, the stock has a loss of 43 percent.

Still, Wall Street loves the stock. Nine Wall Street analysts cover Edison, and all nine have “buy” ratings on it. They say they are not worried about the stock’s short-term moves, and call it an excellent long-term holding.

Wall Street is bullish about Edison’s prospects in the City of Brotherly Love.

Whittle, the founder and CEO of Edison, just launched a campaign to convince Philadelphia parents, teachers, administrators, students and politicians that their worst fears are not about to be realized.

“Our company comprises men and women who care very deeply about children and education,” Whittle said. “Our team members have vast experience in public education – most of it in urban districts such as Philadelphia, where the educational and fiscal challenges are acute.”

He also pointed out that even as Edison has taken over some of the most challenged schools in the nation, it has achieved positive educational improvements in 84 percent of those schools.

The average achievement gains of all Edison schools, he said, have been five to six percentage points on standardized tests since 1995.

“Edison schools look and feel brighter, and its teachers are energized and well supported,” he said. “But, most important, students are learning more.”